Distributing apparatus



P. 'M. RAINEY. DISTRIBUTING APPARAIUS APPLICATION FILED APR-1.1919- //1 I/ewfo/r' Pau/ M. fia/ney 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

P. M. RAINEY.

DiSTRlBUTING APPARATUS. I APPLICATION man APR. 1. 1919. 1 311 915 Patented Aug. 5,1919.

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PAUL M. RAINEY, OFGLEN RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR '10 WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, 015 NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

1 DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Au 5. 1919.

Application filed April 7, 1919. Serial No. 288,197.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1', PAUL M. RAINEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Glen Ridge, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Distributing Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to distributing apparatus and particularly to current impulse distributing apparatus of the rotary type. The main purpose ofthis invention is to provide an improved distributing mecha nism suitable for printing telegraph systems or the like, and one whereby current impulses may be distributed to the line or to suitable receiving apparatus in a reliable and efficient manner.

A further object is to provide a combined structure which is neat and compact, one which may be readily regulated to operate at any desired speed, and which may be adjusted to compensate for variations in time required for various parts to operate. To the above ends, thereis provided a frame structure or housing on the opposite ends of which are mounted distributer faces, each comprising conducting rings which may be either continuous or segmented. The rings, of the distributor faces are adapted to be connected in airs by means of commutator brushes carried by rotatable arms. The brush arms are, preferably, frictionally mounted on a continuously rotating shaft and are adapted to be arrested and released once per revolution for synchronizing purposes. The rotary shaft carrying the brush arms may be rotated by any suitable driving mechanism, for example, a motor, and the speed of the driving mechanism may be regulated while the distributers are in oper ation so that the distributers may be caused to travel in substantial synchronism and distribute the impulses at any desired rate of speed.-

- The above and other objects of this invention will be fully set forth in the following description and claims, and will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view in perspective of'thedistributing apparatus with a portion of the frame structure broken away to show part of the driving mechanism; Fig. 2 is aschematie circuit of the sending, distributing and receiving apparatus; Fig. 3 is an assembly view of the distributor and driving mechanisms; and Fig. 4 is a detail view of the electromagnetic release mechanism.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 3, the distributer frame structure or housing 10 is supported by upright members 11 and 1-2 on a base 13. On the base 13 is also mounted the distributer driving motor 1* and the motor speed control member 15. The distributor shaft"16, carrying the distributer brush arms 17 and 18, is mounted at right angles tothe motor driving shaft 19. The distributer shaft is. preferably, positivelydriven by means of a gear wheel 20 carried thereby, cooperating with a' spiral gear 21 on the motor driving shaft. While a gear ratio of approximately 9 to 1 has been found suitable in actual practice, the ratio may obviously be varied tosuit each individual case and to provide the desired speed of the distributor brush arms. At the right hand of Fig. 3 is shown a couple of collector rings 22 and 23 and corresponding conducting brushes 24 and The collector rings and brushes are included in the circuit of the driving motor. In addition thereto is included a set of contacts (not shown) carried within a rotary casing 26, which contacts are adapted to be opened by centrifugal force when the speed of the motor exceeds a predetermined R. P. M. The contacts are normally held closed by an adjustable spring member. and the tension of the spring member may be adjusted by turning the knurled knob or disk 27 as fully disclosed in a co-pending application of Benjamin F. Merritt, Serial No. 191,146, filed October 1, 19-17. The periphery of the knob or disk 27 extends through the sides of the casing 26 and is adapted to be rotated in either direction while the motor is in operation. For this purpose, a flange 28 on one side of the casing 26 is adapted to be moved into the path of rotation of the disk 27, to thereby turn it in one direction, and a flange 29 on the opposite side of the casing is and 29 carried by the current control member 15 are pivotally mounted on the base 13 and may be moved into the path of the rotary disk by moving a lever or operating handle 30 either to the left or to the right as desired, depending upon whether the tension of the spring member holding the contacts closed, is to be decreased or increased.

Rigidly secured to the housing 10 are two similar but irregularly shapedmembers 31, each of which supports a release magnet 32. Each member 31 is provided with a bifurcated extension 33 for guiding the reciprocatory movement of an arm 34 which is normally held by a spring member 3% in the path of its respective distributer brusliarm. Each arm 34 is withdrawn from the path of the respective brush arm against the action of spring 35 whenever its magnet 32 is energized, as will presently appear. The bifurcated extension 33 is provided primarily to form a rigid support for the end of the arm 34, so that when the distributer brush arm strikes against the stop-arm 34, it will not cause vibration of the stop-arm and will not impose too great a strain on the stoparm bearings.

The distributer mounted within the housing 10 and they are proper time intervals.

arranged for orientation in order to insure distribution of the current impulses at the For this purpose, an arm or lever 38 is provided for turning each distributer face, independently of the others, through any angle desired.

While in Figs. 1 and 3 only one distributer face is fully shown, it is to be understood that another distributer face is carried by the opposite end of the frame structure 10 and that, in fact, any-number of distributer faces may be mounted in parallel planes, and corresponding distributer brushes carried byjthe rotary shaft 16 may be provided for traversing the several con-, ducting rings of the' distributer faces.

Referring now particularly to the sche matic distributing circuit arrangement illustrated in Fig. 2, sending and receiving distributers 47 and 37, respectively, are illustrated. Associated with the sending distributer is a transmitter 39, comprising a plurality of selectively operable contacts 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45, and a common coritact 46. These contacts may be selectively controlled by manually operable means or by automatic means, such as tape transmitters, both of which are well known in the art. Each of the transmitter contacts 41 to 45, inclusive, is connected to separate segments of the sending distributer, and they are adapted to be connected to the line circuit L through the sending distributer ring 48, whenever brushes 49 and 50 pass over the respective distributer segments. Associated with the distributer 37 is a receiving -mechanism 51 comprising a plurality of faces are frictionally received impulses or for operating a suitable recording instrument, for example, a printer. The distributer 37 and selecting mechanism 51 may be operated in response to signals transmitted from a distant station, or they may be employed as home recording instruments to provide a home copy of the characters transmitted from the distributer 47. V

The distributer brush arms 17 and 18 are frictionally mounted on the constantly rotating shaft 16 and are normally restrained from movement by means of the stop-arms 34 controlled by the release magnets 32. In the particular embodiment herein illustrated the line circuit is shown closed. Let it be assumed that the transmitter 39 is operated to transmit a character signal represented by two marking impulses followed by three spacing impulses, thereby closing contacts 41 and 42 without altering the normal position of contacts 43, 44 and 45. The closure of the common transmitter contact 46, which contact is closed whenever a character combination is set up, will establish an energizing circuit through the release magnet 32 from grounded battery 55, distributer ring 56, brushes 58 and 59, conductor 60, winding of magnet 32 and contact 46 to ground, The instant magnet 32 is energized, it withdraws the extension arm 34 from engagement with the distributer brush arm 18, thereby permitting the brush arm to-rotate, due to its frictional engagement with the rotating shaft 16. The instant the brush arm 18 is released and the brush 50 passes off of segment 61, the line circuit L is opened and-the line relay 62 permits its armature 634:0 fall back and engage its back contact, thereby completing a circuit from ground: ed battery 64, distributer ring 65, brushes 66 and 67, segment 68, release magnet 32, contact and armature 63 and switch 69 to ground. The energization of the release magnet'32 at the receiving station operates to effect the release of the distributer brush arm 17 in thesame manner as the distributer brush arm 18 above referred to.

The distributer brush arms at both the sending and receiving stations have now been released, and assuming that thesp'eed of the drivm motors has een adjusted so that the dlstrlbuter brushes pass over corresponding segments at the sending and receivstart segments or the segments included in the circuits of the release magnets 32, the magnets will be denergized and the stop- 20 shaft is in motion.

arms Will move into position. to engage the brush arms at the completion of each revolution. Thus for the transmission of each character combination, the distributors make one revolution and stop until a new character combination is set up and the distributor brush arms are again released.

What is claimed is:

1. A current impulse distributing mechanism comprising a distributer face consisting of continuous and segmented rings, a rotary member, distributer brushes carried by said rotary member for interconnecting predetermined ones of said rings a, revolv ing shaft on which said member is frictionally mounted, driving means for said shaft, adjustable means carried by said revolving shaft for alteringthe speed of said driving means, and means for altering the adjustment of said adjustable means, while the 2. A current impulse distributing mechanism comprising a distributor face composed of a plurality of continuous and seg- 1 mented rings, means for orienting said distributer face, a rotary arm, brushes carried by said rotary arm and adapted to traverse said distributor rings, a revolving shaft on which said rotary arm is frictionally mounted, drivin means for said shaft, centrifugally opera 1e means carried by said" revolving shaft for controlling the speed of said driving means, and means for adjusting said centrifugally operable means while the shaft isin motion. y

3. A distributing apparatus comprising a plurality of distributer faces, a housing supporting said faces, rotary brush arms, a plurality of brushes carried by each of said arms for traversing said distributor faces, mechanism mounted Within said housing for rotating said distributor brush arms, means supported by said housing for releasing and arresting the distributor brush arms once per revolution, and means for guiding said releasing and arrestingmeans to prevent vibration thereof.

4. A distributing mechanism comprising a plurality of distributer faces frictionally mounted in a supporting member, means for altering the phase relation of said distributer faces, a rotary brush arm for each of said, faces, distributer brushes carried by each ofsaid arms for traversing the resp'ec tive distributer faces, a release magnet, means for energizing said release magnet to withdraw a stop member from the path of said distributer arm, means for returning the stop member to normal on the deanergization of said magnet, and a bifurcated member for supporting said stop member to prevent vibration thereof when engaged by said. rotary distributor arm.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of March, A. D. 1919.

PAUL M. RAINEY. 

